Self-Test of a Physical Unclonable Function

• US 20150278527A1
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Falk, Rainer
• Application Number:
  US14/432,201
• Publication Number:
  US 20150278527A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/3187 Built-in tests
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 1/00 Apparatus or methods whereby a given sequence of signs, e.g. an intelligible text, is transformed into an unintelligible sequence of signs by transposing the signs or groups of signs or by replacing them by others according to a predetermined system cryptographic typewriters G09C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/12 Details relating to cryptographic hardware or logic circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/26 Testing cryptographic entity, e.g. testing integrity of encryption key or encryption algorithm
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3278 using physically unclonable functions [PUF]

Abstract

The invention relates to a circuit unit (1) comprising a Physical Unclonable Function (6), hereinafter referred to as PUF (6), a verification unit (5) and an information storage device (7) for storing at least one Challenge-Response-Pair (CR1); wherein the Challenge-Response-Pair (CR1) comprises a Challenge Information (C1) and a Response Information (R1) associated therewith, and wherein the verification unit (5) is embodied and/or adapted, in order to bring about an input of the challenge information (C1) into the PUF (6) and to use a PUF Response (PR1) created thereafter by the PUF (6) and the Response Information for a comparison, and in dependence of the result of the comparison release or restrict a use of the PUF (6).

Claims

1. A circuit unit (1) comprising a physical unclonable function (6), called PUF (6) below, a testing unit (5) and an information memory (7) for storing at least one challenge-response pair (CR1);

the challenge-response pair (CR1) comprising an item of challenge information (C1) and an associated item of response information (R1); and

the testing unit (5) being configured and/or adapted to prompt an input of the challenge information (C1) to the PUF (6), to use a PUF response (PR1) thereto, which is generated by the PUF (6), and the response information (R1) for a comparison and to enable or restrict use of the PUF (6) on the basis of the comparison result.

2. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in claim 1, the circuit unit (1) being an integrated circuit (1).

3. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, comprising an interface (9) which can be used to access the PUF (6) from the outside.

4. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the use of the PUF (6) being able to be enabled or restricted by enabling or blocking access to the PUF (6).

5. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the use of the PUF (6) being able to be enabled or restricted by enabling or blocking the interface (9).

6. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the use of the PUF (6) being able to be enabled or restricted using a cryptographic parameter determined by the PUF (6), preferably by virtue of a cryptographic key being able to be determined by a fuzzy key extractor, in which case the output of the key can be blocked.

7. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the testing unit (5) being configured and/or adapted to determine a degree of match during the comparison, which degree of match is compared with a threshold value, and the use of the PUF (6) being enabled or restricted if the determined degree of match reaches, exceeds or undershoots the threshold value.

8. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in claim 7, the threshold value being able to be configured for a plurality of intended uses of the PUF (6), different threshold values being able to be assigned to different intended uses.

9. The circuit unit (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, the testing unit (5) being configured and/or adapted to check, during the comparison, whether:

a) the response (R1) sufficiently matches the PUF response (PR1);

or

b) for repeated input of the challenge information (C1) to the PUF (6), the PUF responses (PRi) generated by the PUF (6) as a result sufficiently match the response (R1);

or

c) for a plurality of challenge-response pairs (CRi) each comprising an item of challenge information (Ci) and an item of response information (Ri) associated with the challenge information (Ci), the PUF responses (PRi) generated by the PUF (6) on account of the inputs of the challenge information (Ci) to the PUF (6) sufficiently match the respective responses (Ri).

10. A method for carrying out a self-test for a circuit unit (1) comprising a physical unclonable function (6), called PUF (6) below, a testing unit (5) and an information memory (7) for storing at least one challenge-response pair (CR1), the challenge-response pair (CR1) comprising an item of challenge information (C1) and an associated item of response information (R1), the method comprising the method steps of:

inputting the challenge information (C1) to the PUF (6);

using a PUF response (PR1) thereto, which is generated by the PUF (6), and the response information (R1) for a comparison carried out by the testing unit (5), use of the PUF (6) being enabled or restricted on the basis of the comparison result.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, the circuit unit (1) being an integrated circuit (1).

12. The method as claimed in claim 10 or 11, the circuit unit comprising an interface (9) which is used to access the PUF (6) from the outside on the basis of the comparison.

13. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 12, the use of the PUF (6) being directly enabled or blocked.

14. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 13, the use of the PUF (6) being enabled or restricted by enabling or restricting the interface (9).

15. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 14, the use of the PUF (6) being enabled or restricted using a cryptographic parameter determined by the PUF (6), preferably by virtue of a cryptographic key being determined by a fuzzy key extractor, in which case the output of the key can be blocked and the use of the PUF (6) is thus restricted.

16. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 15, a degree of match being determined during the comparison,

which degree of match is compared with a threshold value, and the use of the PUF (6) being enabled or restricted if the determined degree of match reaches, exceeds or undershoots the threshold value.

17. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 16, the threshold value being configured for a plurality of intended uses of the PUF (6), different threshold values being able to be assigned to different intended uses.

18. The method as claimed in one of claims 10 to 17, a check being carried out, during the comparison, in order to determine whether:

a) the response (R1) sufficiently matches the PUF response (PR1);

or

b) for repeated input of the challenge information (C1) to the PUF (6), the PUF responses (PRi) generated by the PUF (6) as a result sufficiently match the response (R1);

or

c) for a plurality of challenge-response pairs (CRi) each comprising an item of challenge information (Ci) and an item of response information (Ri) associated with the challenge information (Ci), the PUF responses (PRi) generated by the PUF (6) on account of the inputs of the challenge information (Ci) to the PUF (6) sufficiently match the respective responses (Ri).